Dynamo Moscow vs SKA. How will the battle of championship favorites end?
The central match of the first game week of the KHL regular championship will be held on September 2 in Moscow. It is there, on the ice of the capital's VTB Arena, that the ambitious Dynamo will receive guests from St. Petersburg - the SKA hockey club.
Last year's restructuring of the team looked so large-scale that many experts assigned the unenviable role of an outsider to the blue and white. Contrary to pessimistic forecasts, Dynamo looked decent during the regular championship, only falling out of the top three at the end of the championship. The short bench and the lack of charismatic leaders affected the playoffs. Already in the first round, Dynamo lost to Nizhny Novgorod Torpedo, having managed to lose three times in overtime. During the summer off-season, rumors about a change in head coach were quite actively circulated, however, the coaching staff, led by Alexei Kudashov, got another chance.
As for transfers, here the white-and-blues worked pointwise, having managed to sign Nikita Gusev, a hockey player who is one of the main stars of the League. Another high-profile acquisition was the signing of Canadian forward Cedric Paquette, who played more than four hundred games in the NHL. Paquette has scored four goals in the last two friendly matches, scoring doubles in a 6-0 win over Amur and a 5-2 Vityaz. Gusev, who is still playing in the second line of Dynamo, along with Wal and Morozov, also has goals.
SKA
The last season performed by the St. Petersburg club can be divided into two parts. An ideal passage of the regular season, as a result of which the army team brought a lead of 11 points to the closest pursuer. And the outcome of the playoffs, which has already become traditional, where all the splendor of St. Petersburg turns out to be powerless in rivalry with teammates from Moscow. SKA again lost in the final of the Western Conference to CSKA Moscow, this time in a six-match series.
Despite another setback in the playoffs, the championship ambitions of the SKA leadership and specifically Roman Rotenberg have not gone away, and before the start of the season, the army team once again seriously shook up the transfer market. Tolchinsky and Gritsyuk moved from Avangard to the city on the Neva, Alex Galchenyuk arrived from Metallurg Leipsik, Alex Galchenyuk arrived from the NHL, Matvey Michkov, who had matured, returned from rent, that is, by name, it is the Petersburgers who now look like the main favorite of the championship. Although the results of control fights are not particularly impressive. Of the eight matches held, St. Petersburg won five, losing to the large Omsk Avangard 1-5 and with a minimum score to Admiral 2-3 and the Russian youth team 5-6.
Our Expert Predictions & Analysis on Dynamo Moscow vs SKA
Dynamo MoscowLast year's restructuring of the team looked so large-scale that many experts assigned the unenviable role of an outsider to the blue and white. Contrary to pessimistic forecasts, Dynamo looked decent during the regular championship, only falling out of the top three at the end of the championship. The short bench and the lack of charismatic leaders affected the playoffs. Already in the first round, Dynamo lost to Nizhny Novgorod Torpedo, having managed to lose three times in overtime. During the summer off-season, rumors about a change in head coach were quite actively circulated, however, the coaching staff, led by Alexei Kudashov, got another chance.
As for transfers, here the white-and-blues worked pointwise, having managed to sign Nikita Gusev, a hockey player who is one of the main stars of the League. Another high-profile acquisition was the signing of Canadian forward Cedric Paquette, who played more than four hundred games in the NHL. Paquette has scored four goals in the last two friendly matches, scoring doubles in a 6-0 win over Amur and a 5-2 Vityaz. Gusev, who is still playing in the second line of Dynamo, along with Wal and Morozov, also has goals.
SKA
The last season performed by the St. Petersburg club can be divided into two parts. An ideal passage of the regular season, as a result of which the army team brought a lead of 11 points to the closest pursuer. And the outcome of the playoffs, which has already become traditional, where all the splendor of St. Petersburg turns out to be powerless in rivalry with teammates from Moscow. SKA again lost in the final of the Western Conference to CSKA Moscow, this time in a six-match series.
Despite another setback in the playoffs, the championship ambitions of the SKA leadership and specifically Roman Rotenberg have not gone away, and before the start of the season, the army team once again seriously shook up the transfer market. Tolchinsky and Gritsyuk moved from Avangard to the city on the Neva, Alex Galchenyuk arrived from Metallurg Leipsik, Alex Galchenyuk arrived from the NHL, Matvey Michkov, who had matured, returned from rent, that is, by name, it is the Petersburgers who now look like the main favorite of the championship. Although the results of control fights are not particularly impressive. Of the eight matches held, St. Petersburg won five, losing to the large Omsk Avangard 1-5 and with a minimum score to Admiral 2-3 and the Russian youth team 5-6.
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